China's S&T Plan for the West Development
On August 13, 2001, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology officially published its S&T Plan for the west development during the 10th Five-Year Plan period(2001-2005). The Plan has outlined the scientific and coordinated deployment on guiding principles, major objectives, priority key S&T issues and tasks and associated policies for the S&T activities in the west development in the coming five years.
The S&T activities in the west region during the 10th period will focus on R&D innovations capacity building while strengthening the S&T support for the environment and infrastructures constructions in the region. The Plan calls for the remarkable improvement of R&D innovation capacity, addressing major technical bottleneck issues encountered in the ecological environment and infrastructure construction, achieving fruitful progress in high tech industrial development, building up a high quality R&D personnel contingent and further optimizing R&D innovation and pioneering environment in the west.
The Plan has proposed for the first time the high tech development pattern which is the so-called 'two belts-one city-two township' pattern, namely the high tech industrial belts of Chengdu-Deyang-Mianyang of Sichuan Province and the middle section of Shaan'xi Province, and the city of Chongqing Municipality and Mianyang S&T Township and Yangling Agricultural Science Township. These priority areas are supposed to play a radiation role in accelerating the high tech industrial development in the west. In addition, priorities will be given to the integrated ecological control and R&D demonstration focusing on typical natural ecological zones, the special industrial development cored with value added conversion of advantageous resources in the west and support for the development of regional S&T innovation bases enjoying the cooperation between the east and the west.
To ensure the smooth implementation of the Plan, the state will, during the 10th Five-Year Plan period, continue to enhance its input in S&T activities in the west through coordinated and integrated support of major national S&T programs.
In the meanwhile, under the support of the national key technology R&D program, 12 provinces(or autonomous regions, or municipalities) and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corp in the west region have worked out their respective S&T development plans tailored to their own development patterns for different sectors and at different levels. These plans are the first of their kinds in the west S&T development.
Pioneering Investment Fund for the Returned
Thirteen high tech industrial projects sponsored by scholars who returned from abroad has been recently granted with the funds provided by the Wuhan Municipality, which makes the project the first recipient of the Pioneering Investment Fund for Returned Overseas Scholars set by the Municipality.
It is briefed that the said Fund is deposited in a special account for dedicated purposes. It can be used in the form of loans or equity investment. When using funds in the form of loans, 20% discount can be offered off the actual paid use fees, if the loans and use fees are paid in the time limit prescribed by the contract. Loan application can be either guaranteed by assets or equity shares or by the third person. The funds used in the form of equity investment will be returned mainly through equity dividends or equity assignment.
It is reported that now 18 high tech projects proposed by 19 enterprises are under the assessment of experts. 13 projects of higher technical level and stronger market competitiveness and perspectives such as the multimedia IP data transmission system of Wuhan Media Software Co. have been granted with the fund support with an amount of RMB 2.625 million. The said 13 projects have covered the areas of electronic information, advanced materials, environmental protection, ship building, bioengineering, nuclear physics based biology and medical sciences.
China's Revised Intellectual Property Policies
As revealed by the sources from the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, upon China's imminent accession to WTO, the Chinese government will make positive readjustment of its policies on intellectual properties in the following five major areas:
1)Further improve the incentive mechanism for promoting S&T innovations with intellectual properties, and change the old 'average distribution' mode under the planned economic system so as to take full advantage of the initiatives of S&T personnel;
2)Accelerate the establishment of healthy mechanism and promote the combination of S&T innovations and intellectual properties management, and make the protection and management of intellectual properties one of the major contents and indicators of S&T management system innovation;
3)Accelerate the development of China's own intellectual properties. To meet the needs of China's entry into WTO and the challenge of the international competition, organize macro strategic studies of intellectual property rights in the field of high technology so as to promote the development and fast growth of China's industries of independent intellectual properties;
4)Strengthen the development of S&T related intellectual property rights management system, protection capacity and service system. Research institutes, universities and high tech industries shall gradually shift from reliance on governmental support to depending on the competitive advantage of intellectual property resources, creating independent intellectual properties and applying intellectual properties so as to forge market competitiveness;
5)Further strengthen the international cooperation and exchanges on intellectual property rights.
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INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION |
EU: China's Major S&T Partner
When attending the China-Norway International Workshop on Polar Sciences convened in Shanghai on July 30, 2001, Wang Shaoqi, Director of the International Cooperation Department, Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, expressed that the European Union would become one of China's important partners on S&T cooperation. China is now working together with EU on the studies in numerous disciplines such as biotechnology, space technology, materials, energy, environment and basic studies etc..
Co-sponsored by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, Polar Office of the State Marine Bureau, National Natural Science Foundation, Norwegian National Research Council and the Chinese Polar Research Institute, the said Workshop is the first of its kind held between China and Norway and also one of the major S&T cooperative activities between China and the EU countries.
Mr. Trond Giske, Norwegian Minister of Education, Research and Religion who headed the Norwegian S&T delegation to attend the Workshop in Shanghai expressed that Norway was very much willing to conduct deeper cooperative studies with China in the field of polar sciences, and the conjugate observations jointly carried out by both countries played a specially important role in earth and space environment monitoring. The coordinated observations at China Zhongshan Station in the Antarctic and Norwegian Svalbard islands were of substantive scientific significance, which would surely produce worldwide impacts on the earth and space environment monitoring and studies.
Up to date, the Chinese Institute of Polar Sciences has conducted fruitful cooperation with a number of Norwegian universities. Being a special institute dedicated to the studies on polar sciences, it has carried out a series of extensive study on the polar glacier, polar upper air atmospheric physics, low temperature biology and ecology and polar marine physics in the Antarctic region. The upper air atmospheric physics observatory established by the said Institute at Zhongshan Station is one of the most advanced five Antarctic stations renowned for their well-equipped and reliable observation facilities.
China-Kazakhstan Geological Cooperation
At the invitation of the Kazakhstanian Ministry of Education, the Delegation of the Chinese Academy of Geology headed by Zhang Yanying, President of the Chinese Academy of Geology, visited Kazakhstan from July 27 to August 4, 2001, during which period extensive consensus has been reached on the cooperation in the field of geology between the two countries.
It is briefed that the two countries are connected geologically by a shared borderline, which possesses a bright cooperative perspective for resources development and environmental protection. During the visit, both sides decided to launch cooperative studies in the fields of basic geology, mineral resources, geological environment of hydraulic engineering, geological prospecting means and R&D management reforms through public good studies, commercial cooperation and management experience sharing. The geologists of both nations have come to cooperative
agreements on a series of projects, including the compilation of geological maps of the four neighboring countries including China, Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia and the comprehensive research project on Aletai area.
China's Hunger-Killing Cancer Cells
The class I anti-cancer new drug YH-16 developed by Yantai Rongchang Bioengineering Co. Ltd. has been approved by the State Drug Supervision Administration for clinic testing. The said drug is the first of its kind approved for the clinic testing in the country, which marks a breakthrough in China's genetic engineering medicine development.
It is briefed that a long-standing technical difficulty that leads to the high cost for industrial production is the reconstruction of protein inclusion renaturation which is produced by colibacillus in the blood vessel inhibitor development. On the basis of their 3-year painstaking efforts, Rongchang's R&D personnel have found the solution through turning the inactive protein into the active one with the protein purity reaching 99%, which means the production costs will be greatly reduced. Numerous experiments on animals have shown that YH-16 is of fine treatment target orientation, applicable for attacking the new blood vessels that support the survival of the cancer cells without affecting the growth of the normal cells. As approved by the State Drug Supervision Administration, YU-16 has entered its Phase I clinic testing at six major hospitals in Beijing including
Beijing Tumor Hospital and China-Japan Friendship Hospital. And the Phase II clinic testing will soon be started.
China's First Mobile Doppler Radar
China's first mobile Doppler radar was recently put into oqeration in Jingzhou, Hubei Province. Applied with numerous advanced technologies such as microelectronics, modules, large dynamics, highly stable receiver and wide band radio frequency telecommunication, the said Doppler radar system can be delivered in just 3 truckloads. Because it has automatic loading and unloading facilities, it only takes a few minutes for the radar to complete the dismantling.
The said mobile Doppler radar is not only able to detect the macro and micro developments of the weather systems but also able to observe the air current distribution by taking advantage of Doppler effect and work out timely and accurate prediction on the genesis and development of the common weather disasters attacking Jingjiang river valley. Viewing the sky together with another Doppler radar stationed in Yichang, the dual radar system has eventually wiped out the blind zone over the Jingjiang river valley. In the evening on July 30, 2001, the said ra
dar system detected the ongoing formulation of cumulonimbus 37 km away from the urban area of Jingzhou City, the weather bureau in the city immediately launched the weather modification operation according to the information collected and alleviated the drought in the area.
World Advanced TV Fluorescent Powder
It is reported that the fluorescent powder for color projection TV applications jointly developed by Changchun Institute of Sophisticated Machinery and Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences has recently passed the technical verification checks with its major indicators such as brightness and contrast meeting the requirement of the world advanced commercial projection tubes.
The R&D personnel of the Institute have made in-depth studies on the illumination performance of the color projection TV screen under high energy electronic beams, the base composition, crystal structures and synthesizing techniques of the three color fluorescent powder (green, red and blue). They also made the associated analysis of the implications of illumination brightness of cathode ray, spectrum and color coordinates, and eventually turned out the three-color fluorescent powder. The experts panel involved in the technical verification agreed that t
he said product has reached the level of the international common products in terms of its application properties, though it also landed a remarkable difference from them such as its better environmental light absorption, enhanced contrast and easier frame changing. The fluorescent powder produced in the pilot experiment has fully met the requirement of the projection tubes extensively used all over the world.
Progress in Electrode Cancer Treatment
Thanks to the two-and-odd-year R&D efforts of the medical experts from a dozen of military hospitals including Tangdu Hospital under No. 4 Military Medical School,the Southwest Hospital under No. 3 Military Medical School and the General Hospital of Beijing Garrison and Xi'an based Xilaiwo S&T Development Co. Ltd., the electrode cluster radio frequency based liver and lung cancer treatment system has seen great progress in China. The experts have for the first time both at home and abroad developed the multiple points based instant puncture positioning technique of low echo and high power and found its success in destroying large live and lung cancers.
In May 1999, Tangdu Hospital under No. 4 Military Medical School, the Southwest Hospital under No. 3 Military Medical School and the General Hospital of Beijing Garrison respectively introduced the multiple-heads automatic cancer treatment navigation system from abroad. Their rich operational experience and long-term basic studies have made them discover that the system would produce echoes when meeting with the steam derived from the solidation process, which affects the second positioning, though it has numerous merits such as needing no surgical tools, no blood consumption, no pains, small wounds, high accuracy and high reliability. On the basis of their in-depth studies on electrode cluster radio frequency technique, they worked hard for two years together with Xi'an based Xilaiwo S&R Development Co. Ltd. and turned out the multiple points based instant puncture positioning technique. The said positioning technique has not only landed a breakthrough in the old concept that such technique is only applicable to small and medium sized tumors but also improved the incomplete treatment of cancers caused by high echoes produced in the steaming solidation process. In the meanwhile, they upgraded the computer software of the automatic navigation system and greatly enhanced the success rate and treatment results and shortened the operation time by half. Up to date, they have treated more than ten thousand liver and lung cancer patients with the said technique, and recorded a total relieving rate of 82%, which is remarkably higher than the corresponding international indicators.
China's New Goals for Nuclear Fusion
Experts from the U.S., Germany, Japan and China have recently in Chengdu made their joint assessment on the physical targets of China Circulator II A Experimental Device that is near the completion of its construction and screened out the new target orientation for China's nuclear fusion studies.
China Circulator II A scheduled for the completion of its construction at the end of this year is the largest and the most typical of its kind in China. The physical targets defined by the experts are: to conduct the physical studies of divertor and scratcher on the unique Tokamak device of closed divertor, and to develop such as the plasma improvement and restricting technology near reactor core, plasma heating technology satisfying core plasma conditions, electric current driving technology, feeding technology and plasma diagnosing and measuring techni
ques. Experts believed that these targets were in line with the international priorities for cutting edge nuclear fusion studies and the possible progress will contribute to the development of the world nuclear fusion studies and the international fusion program. The completion of its construction will make China step onto a new stage in her nuclear fusion studies.
China's First Magnetic Suspension Rail
The first rail beam designed for Shanghai Magnetic Suspension Express Train Project has recently made its debut. With a length of 12 meters and weight 70 and odd tons, the said rail beam is the first prestress concrete beam bearing the pressure on its center, which is totally designed and manufactured by the Chinese scientists and engineers on their own.
It is briefed that the said rail beam is of a smooth surface and the desired density and measurements. The repeated measurements and checks of the said beam by competent research institutes and supervising authorities have shown its up-to-standard accuracy. Being separated from the model, the beam is to be processed on the digital programmed 5 coordinated boring and milling machine and fixed with functional components after 60-day piling up. It is reported that the finished rail beams will roll off from the assembly line this October and sit on the magnetic suspension base ready for fixation.
With a designed speed of 430 km running through a whole rail line of 30 km, the Shanghai Magnetic Suspension Express Train Project needs 2,560 and more rail beams. Being a sophisticated product in the current world concrete industry, the beam requires that the geometrical accuracy should not go beyond 2 mm and it also has a strict requirement for the shrinking and creep performance.
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